“EPANAW PROJECT”: THANKSGIVING AND GRATITUDE

To: All NCIP Commissioners, NCIP Personnel & Partners
It was last January 2020 when we started entertaining the research per community and later becoming an Epanaw Project;
We went through different brainstorming and discussions together with a lot of meetings, workshops, processes, concepts & issues debated bringing in & out of decided guidances;
It looked unrealistic, not doable, can’t be achieved and more so will just divide us;
But it was our being Deliberate, Methodical, Systematic, Committed & Laser Focus Direction especially during the last 3 months that unite the entire agency that finally bring out the 3 Coffee Table Books (CTBs);
The Photo Exhibits & CTB 1/2/3 Launching and simultaneous at that BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN EVERY INDIVIDUAL OF THE AGENCY;
And with a daily small group meetings of agencies with our host within the Photo Exhibit areas bear more fruits and commitments from other agencies just prove that we are on the right direction;
The participation of the ICCs/IPs in all these undertakings from the very start of the project show their thirst and longing that their VOICES can be heard;
Yes it’s true that this is an NCIP initiative with the hard-work of our men and women together with our partners;
But more than that, it’s listening to the cry, pain, sufferings & struggles of the ICCs/IPs to be finally & truly heard and freed from historical injustice that a big number suffered even until now;
We are then in a Journey…. we are in Epanaw to achieve the ICCs/IPs ultimate goal. And we at NCIP are more than committed for the fulfillment of their Rights to Ancestral Domain, their Rights to Self-Governance & Empowerment, their Rights to Social Justice & Human Rights and their Rights to Cultural Integrity!;
All these 4 Bundles of Rights are expressed in 36 Specific Rights under IPRA or RA 8371 of 1997. We then realized that all activities of NCIP must evolve here may it be our Strategic Work Flow (SWF); submissions of PAPs; 11 Building Blocks of Resilient ICCs/IPs; IP Master Plan, Communication Plan, Regional Action Planning & Workshop (RAPW) in support to NTF-ELCAC, Epanaw II & many more….. as indeed we are still on a JOURNEY …. EPANAW;
And so from the bottom of my heart, I expressed my gratitude and thanksgiving first to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the PRIVILEGE to serve HIS people the ICCs/IPs;
My gratitude and thanksgiving to all hardworking NCIP men and women to include our partners;
And finally my gratitude and thanksgiving to all ICCs/IPs all over the country. This is just the beginning…. We are in a JOURNEY together …. We are in “EPANAW”.